Castaway
by Aereth
Summary: This is the English translation of the original German version of my story "Gestrandet". A sea storm causes Severus, Hermione and a few others from the Gryffindor and Slytherin senior class to get stranded on a seemingly desert island. But with Severus help, they manage to get by. Pairing: SS/HG
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.

 **Chapter 1**

A fresh breeze blew the scent of the sea into Severus' face, and the sun burned hot on his back. He felt the grainy sand under his skin and slowly began to wake up. When he raised his head, he saw what he had already felt: A vast, beautiful beach melting into the far palm thicket. His memories of last night were fuzzy only bits and pieces, images swirling in his head.

He got up and tried to remember as much as he could. Santa Rowena, yes this was the name of the ship they were on. What a foolish idea it was of Albus to permit an excursion on a cruise ship. He couldn't say how long he was stuck with the senior year of Gryffindor and Slytherin on this ship. Two days? Maybe longer. Then came the storm. Nobody had seen it coming. They had no time to react properly. The Storm had broken the ship apart. He remembered fighting for air, and the next thing he remembered was waking up here, alive.

Where are the others? They can't be all dead, can they?

Maybe not all of them. Some distance away he heard a moan. His eyes searched the beach when he saw a head popping out of a sand pile. "Where am I? What happened?", Hermione asked with a faint voice.

"Our ship got caught up in a storm, and we washed up at this shore, Miss Granger." He was never the talkative type, and he said her name with such despite that she immediately realised how stupid her question was.

"Where are the others?", she said to herself, not awaiting an answer from the grumpy man. She stood up without hesitation and strode across the beach calling her friends, "ROOOON? HAAAARRY? GIIIIINNY? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Stupid brat, where is she going all alone in this forsaken place? Severus followed her but made sure to keep a distance. Why must it be the know-it-all Granger with whom he ran ashore and knowing his luck she would probably find her stupid friends soon.

And of course, she did. Somebody answered her callings.

"Hermione? IS THAT YOU?" Four figures ran in her direction, and Hermione gave Ron, Lavender, Harry and Ginny a hug when they reached her.

Severus observed the occurrence from a safe distance tried to choke the contempt that rose from watching this joyful reunion when two more piles of sand attracted his attention. Severus went in their direction and was pleased to see their faces turn pale when they spotted him. The dreaded professor knelt down in front of them and swept the sand aside. A blue collar appeared which Severus seized and pulled with a sharp jolt another boy out of the sand. "Mr Longbottom", he looked despicable at the boy and let go of his collar then Severus turned to the other pile. The Sand began to trickle and revealed a blond tuft. The blond boy looked around and found some comfort seeing his godfather amongst all these hated people. Severus stretched his hand to Draco and helped him up. "Professor?", Draco asked in a raspy voice. Severus nodded sympathetically then his face darkened again.

to be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"What should we do now?", Ron whimpered.

Don't tell me Weasley is going to panic, thought Severus. He had all the reasons for concern seeing red spots growing on Ron's face. Well, he was still their teacher and should ever Albus hear that he left one of his students to his fate he knew he would wish himself to have drowned that night. Apparently, he had to take this matter into his own hands; thus, he broke the silence. "We will look for other survivors, and we'll have to try to draw some attention as I'm sure there are people already looking for us." Severus drew his Wand at which his face froze in dismay. The wand was broken in half both pieces only held together by the silvery core looming through the crack.

The others, too, pulled out their wands to discover with horror that their wands had met the same fate. Severus then looked at his watch, which he immediately removed from his wrist and threw it into the sand.

"The storm destroyed all magical object. We'll have to get by with conventional means", he said.

"But how is this possible professor?", Hermione wanted to know. "That was not an ordinary storm, Miss Granger." This was the end of the conversation as he decided. He had contained himself after the shock and started assigning tasks. "Brown, Miss Weasley and Longbottom you will look for survivors. Granger, the other Weasley and Potter, you will look for water. Maybe you'll find a lake or a spring. Mr Malfoy and I will explore the area and try to find out where we are. We'll meet here in an hour. Understood?", Severus asked, looking up at the sky to determine the position of the sun which he needed to calculate an approximate time.

They looked down to the ground and replied with a joyless "yes". Only Draco wore a grin on his lips.

"Come on, let's go", said Hermione to her two friends but they stood poutingly in place, and she knew exactly why. Instead of arguing she decided to ignore them and went ahead. She knew they would follow her. She didn't even look back as she already heard Ron complaining. "He did this on purpose! Bastard! Of course, he would deny us going with our girlfriends." "Shut up Ron", Hermione countered, "at least the three of us can go together."

"What does he even think ordering us around like this?", Ron complained further at which Hermione stopped abruptly causing the two boys to almost knocking her over. She turned around staring at Ron. "Maybe, because he is the only one capable of surviving the wilderness without a wand. Or are you saying you would do a better job?" She didn't even give him time to reply, because she already knew the answer. "Then shut up and look for water!"

Hermione turned to her previous direction and continued to go ahead.

They proceeded in the same direction and spent the rest of the way in silence. After a while, the sound of pattering water caught their attention. It was very faint, but it was there. Where did it come from? Harry looked around and saw thick shrubs hiding a small trickle. "Come here, I found something", he shouted. "Yeah, you found water...kind of, but that's not enough for all of us", Ron said. His friends ignored him, Hermione watched Harry thoughtful instead. She knew what he was thinking and decided to enlighten Ron. "Think about it, Ron. Where is this water coming from? Where is it going?"

The convenient thing about Ron was that you could tell based on his facial expression whether he understood something. His face brightened immediately as if indeed someone had lit a light. A thought that made Hermione smile.

They searched the area and found not far away, a lake similar to the one they had at Hogwarts. Ron hurried down to the lake and knelt before the clear water. "Ron, wait!", said Hermione, holding him back. "It's not a good idea to drinking from stagnant water", she explained, "Let's look where the water is coming from. Maybe we'll find a spring."

They followed the trickle all the way up to a hill until they reached a rock from whose fissure a spring gushed. The water ran into the crack of a flat rock. It looked almost like a basin. There it overflew the stone and ran as trickle down the hill. Both boys were silent at once and tried to get Hermione's attention.

"Hermione", Ron pulled her arm, "Hermione, look." She looked up gazing at an old, overgrown cabin. It was built of long, massive logs. No nails or bolts were used to hold the cabin together instead the end were interlocked with notches. Whoever had built this cabin knew his craftsmanship. "Do you think somebody lives here?", Ron asked. "I don't know, but it looks abandoned to me", said Hermione.

 **to be continued...**


End file.
